SAYS IT’S UNWISE TO BURN DOWN THE HOUSE JUST BECAUSE A RAT HAS ENTERED IT
the goan I network
PANAJI
After weeks of struggling with the uncharacteristic rebellious moves of former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party finally seemed to have succeeded in reigning him in and named him a part of a 16-member panel to screen candidates for the April 23 Lok Sabha elections and the three Assembly by-elections.
Parsekar when contacted indicated that he had no intentions to quit the party in which he himself had played a major role in building over two decades in Goa.
“I am not a juvenile to leave the party. It is unwise to burn down the house just because a rat has entered it,” Parsekar said, admitting however that a number of decisions taken in the recent past by the party leadership had indeed made him angry.
The former chief minister had raised an uncharacteristic and vociferous banner of revolt against the party leadership after it admitted Dayanand Sopte into the party fold by keeping him in the dark.
Media reports suggested that he was preparing the ground to contest on an MGP ticket the April 23 by-poll in Mandrem, for which the saffron party is committed to field Sopte.
Sopte had won the Mandrem seat on a Congress ticket defeating Parsekar in the 2017 assembly elections. He quit his membership of the House along with Congress veteran Subhas Shirodkar in November last and joined the BJP in a move that derailed the Opposition’s bid to topple the coalition government led by the ailing Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.
Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha MP and State BJP president, Vinay Tendulkar, who announced a 16-member State Selection Committee, said Parsekar was very much part of it by virtue of being a senior party leader and a former chief minister.
The panel will recommend to the Central party leadership the list of candidates for the Lok Sabha election and the three assembly bye-elections scheduled for April 23. “The candidates will then be finalised and announced
in Delhi after it is cleared by the Central Committee,” Tendulkar said, adding that he and party organising secretary Satish Dhond will be attending the meeting in Delhi.
Tendulkar also said, that both the sitting MPs - AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik and Narendra Sawaikar - will in all probability be re-nominated for the North and the South Goa seats.
He said the motions of going through the process of screening candidates and recommending the list to the Centre is a party convention which has to be followed.
The party is also committed to nominate Sopte and Shirodkar for the Mandrem and Shiroda assembly bye-polls but faces a tricky choice for the Mapusa seat where at least three serious aspirants have staked claim for the party ticket.
Joshua D’Souza, sitting councillor and son of former Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza whose death necessitated the bye-election has officially staked claim for the ticket. Also in the fray are another long-time councillor Sudhir Kandholkar and Rupesh Kamat, an aide of Parrikar.
The candidates will be finalised and announced to the media in Delhi by the central leadership, Tendulkar added.
Meanwhile Shripad Naik launched his ground campaign for the North Goa Lok Sabha seat on Thursday from the Priol assembly segment. Naik kicked off by offering prayers at the Mahalsa temple in Mardol and then had a series of meetings with karyakatas and prominent citizens in various villages of the Priol constituency.
Parsekar indicated that he had no intentions to quit the party in which he himself had played a major role in building over two decades in Goa
I am not a juvenile to leave the party. It is unwise to burn down the house just because a rat has entered it, Parsekar said
He however admitted that a number of decisions taken in the recent past by the party leadership had indeed made him angry
TASK OF THE PANEL
The panel will recommend to the Central party leadership list of candidates for LS election and 3 assembly by-elections
The candidates will then be finalised and announced in Delhi after it is cleared by the Central Committee
